The Gift of Giving
by New Yorktown
Summary: A little story about Marco trying to get Star a present, based on earlier, simpler times of the show.


The two boys stared each other down from opposite ends of one of the seemingly endless isles of the multiversal mega mall. Sitting equidistant from the two of them, dead center of the store section, was the last remaining copy of a stuffed doll of an octopus, small enough to take on the go but with a wand charger built into one of the arms. A perfect gift for a mutual acquaintance of theirs. Slowly, both boys walked down the isle towards the other.

"Hey Tom." Marco remarked, hands inside his hoodie pockets as he slowly stepped forward, pose leaned back slightly.

"Marco." The demon prince answered, matching the human's even pace even though he was taking longer, more confident strides, a smug look on his face. "I'm guessing you've coming shopping for the holiday as well?"

"You guessed it." Marco replied in a neutral tone of voice. "I figure this doll here will be perfect for Star. Lovable and practical." The two were getting closer now.

"Well, I'm afraid you're going to have to go shopping somewhere else, because this doll is going to be a present to Starship from me!" Tom stated assertively while pointing a thumb towards his own face, and both boys came to a stop, still equidistant to their mutual goal but much closer to each other now.

"It seems we're at an impass then, because I too plan to take this doll and give it to Star as a present." Marco explained, keeping his expression steady as he sized up the situation. "Tell you what Tom... I'll fight you over it!"

The demon prince was actually taken aback by this, a surprising suggestion coming from the normally conflict averse earth boy. "Wh...What are you talking about Marco? I'll burn you to a crisp!" His confused look became amused, and he chuckled a little. "Quit trying to bluff me Earth boy, go get Star something from one of your dimension's low quality thrift shops. I'm sure Star will looooove it!" He added, the last line delivered with heavy sarcasm.

"And the rest of the building, no doubt." Marco replied with a tinge of sarcasm of his own. "Alright Tom, here's what I propose: To avoid destroying this last doll in the crossfire and leaving neither of us the victor, we each get one move, and one move alone. Whoever comes out on top when both resolve takes the doll and gives it to Star."

Tom looked wary at this, he was serious about this! Allthree eyes narrowing at Diaz as he tried to figure out the human's angle. "Are you kidding me Marco, I'll destroy you in one hit!"

"Well, put your money where your mouth is then Tom." Marco replied back simply, but then got a little smile on his face. "Unless of course, you're afraid I'll steal this doll from you as easily as I stole your dance with Star at the Blood Moon Ball!" He finished, pointing dramatically at the demon prince.

That did it. Tom was instantly taking heavy breaths of anger as his three eyes washed with fire. "YOU'RE ON HUMAN!" He screamed in anger, as flames got higher and higher out of nowhere and his body transformed into a dark as coal shadow that grew higher than the shelves.

 **"DARKEST HELLFIRE COME TO BLAZE, AN INFERNO MADE OF HATE! I BECKON THE STRONGEST CURSE OF DEMONKIND, BORN FROM THE ASHES OF 10,000 INCINERATED SINNED SOULS. COME TO THIS WORLD AND PEEL THE SKIN OF MY ENEMY FROM THE RAW HEAT, TURN HIS BONES TO CHARNEL AND LEAVE HIS SOUL BURNING IN ETERNAL SUFFERING!"**

The hellbound oath echoed across the sky of the warehouse store, growing deeper and layered with more and more voices the longer the chant was sustained. Tom's form became more and more demonic as the shadows grew, giving him the form of a demonic colossus striding over the sporting goods, flames growing higher and changing colors rapidly as the heat rocketed up.

Finally, when the oath was complete, Tom had attained an ultimate demonic form, a tower of hate bursting with curses and hellfire to lay waste to the object of his wrath, able to smite his rival with just a single point of the finger.

Unfortunately for Tom, it seemed his target was gone.

Marco had seemingly vanished into thin air, and while he could easily view the crowds of shoppers for miles around, Tom was too high in the air to accurately pick his target out. His head, now bearing two enormous horns, swiveled about to try and find Marco, but eventually let out a bellow of triumph.

 **"HA, AS IF ANY COULD STAND BRAVE AGAINST THE LUCITOR FAMILY'S GREATEST POWER!"** Tom roared in triumph, before two of his now massive fingers reached down, intending to gently pinch his prize and bring it upwards. Instead, he found only empty air. The doll was gone.

The demon prince's scream of rage echoed across the massive building, reaching even the customer service desk, where one sloth employee turned wearily to the other.

"Put out a store wide notice: There seems to be a lost, angry child on aisle 732."

 **REWIND ONE MINUTE**

Marco watched as Tom began his ritual chant, confirming that the demon prince would spend his one move on something dramatic, overcomplicated, and that would almost certainly leave him writing in eternal agony if it succeeded. Luckily for the Earth boy, he'd counterpicked for this specific possibility.

 _"So, Tom wants to use some kind of ultimate power from the depths of Hell, does he?"_ Marco thought to himself, confidence in his mind even as the tower of hate and fire got taller in front of him. _"Time for Sensei's secret, ultimate karate technique!"_

Finally, Marco dropped his confidence and deliberately let the unholy sight in front of him break his nerves. Filled with the energy of fear, he swiped the doll off the shelf and burst into action, running the opposite direction of the demon at record breaking speed. "RUN AWAY!" Marco screamed at the top of his lungs, which managed to be unheard by the still chanting demon prince.

The boy's arms swung wildly in front of him as he barreled through the crowd of shoppers as quickly as possible, only the muscles gripping onto the doll working as hard as the muscles in his legs.

By the time he was exhausted and wheezing, Marco had run clean across the store and made his way to a register, having grabbed a paper cut full of free sample mystery liquid on the way to rehydrate, despite the risk to that. With Tom left well behind him, Marco simply paid for the doll and slipped out of the store and back to Earth.

About an hour later, Star Butterfly was happily ripping apart a paper mache deer head, an artsy crafty imitation of the traditional gift vessel used during the Johansson Harvest Holiday the exchange student had roped the Díaz family into celebrating.

With a gasp of surprise, she hugged the octopus doll appreciatively. "Awww, it's so lovable!" Then, she fiddled with one of the tentacles. "Ooooh portable wand charger. Practical too. Thank you Marco!"

"Aw, don't mention it Star." Marco responded with a warm voice as Star leaned in to hug him. "You could say I got it on a real... fire sale."

"Wait, are you bragging about getting me a gift that was actually really cheap? ...Do you guys do that on Earth?"

"What, no, that thing cost most of the month's Turdina money, it wasn't that cheap!"

"Then why did you say...?"

"It was a pun Star."

"A pun about nothing."


End file.
